Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosures of Qatar Islamic Banks in Light of Global Trends

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is well renowned in the contemporary world and has become an area of focus as a measure of performance and excellence for corporations globally. Increasingly companies are voluntarily disclosing information which is valued by customers. Such disclosures of companies in different jurisdictions also contribute to global ranking of those jurisdictions in terms of social and governance responsibility, environmental sustainability and competitiveness. From an Islamic perspective, businesses are also expected to adhere to added rules; that is Shari'ah compliance in all dealings. Hence the topic of CSR comes as no surprise to Islamic banks (IBs). There is wide spread research on the topic of CSR practices of IBs, with guidelines being issued by various governing bodies. However, the topic of CSR is quite broad leaving more room for research in various areas, for instance establishing the current level of CSR practices by IBs compared to CSR as a whole.Taking a selection of a number of IBs, with a special focus on Qatar IBs, this research aimed to analyze the publically available information (mainly annual reports) of the IBs to establish the level of CSR disclosures by the selected banks and this has been done in light of a number of global trends that are seen to impact on CSR disclosures. The findings of this research indicates that while IBs are making a positive contribution to CSR, these activities are largely underreported and there may be ways in which the CSR disclosures of the IBs can be enhanced. With a special focus to Qatar, a CSR disclosure framework has been proposed. However, this has not been tested and may still need to be verified. Where the suggested measures are put in place, the contribution of CSR would be enhanced to the overall benefit of both the external and internal stakeholders of the IBs as well as achieving the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030. Lastly, the research may be of benefit to both internal and external stakeholders of the IBs as well as bodies involved in promotion and propagation of CSR, and the same may be referred to for other Islamic businesses.